Thought March was Warm? It was

Now doubt about it, a wide range of broken records prove March was a hot month.

Apr 16, 2012

Last week Accuweather.com issued a meteorologist report looking at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data showing that March 2012 shattered temperature records across the United States, becoming the only month ever recorded, except January 2006, that had surpassed its record by such a large margin.

In a release issued, by the weather watching firm, it reports NOAA saw the average temperature in March rise 8.6 degress above the 20th Century average. And the report showed that not only did certain parts of the U.S. have unseasonable warmth, but no region was exempt from record-setting temperatures.

HOT ALL OVER: This Accuweather map shows how a warm March has impacted the country.

Every state experienced one record warm daily temperature in March, totaling 15,272 warm temperatures broken in the period. The Northeast had its warmest March in 118 years, averaging 44.4 degrees F, 9.8 degrees above the average for the region, Accuweather reports.

In the Midwest, over 6,400 daily temperature records were recorded, 650 were records for any day in March.

In the Southeast, Virginia, the Carolinas and northern Georgia and Alabama had monthly temperatures that were 9 to 10 degrees F above average. And many areas in the region experienced all-time March records for number of days with 80-degree F temperatures and higher.

The High Plains saw temps 9 to 15 degrees above normal. Average monthly temperature records were broken in each state in the region, some of which had been in place for over 100 years. Many cities broke record high daily temperatures, as well, some as high as 17 months above average.

"At least two-thirds of the nation could wind up with above-normal temperatures (during spring 2012)," AccuWeather.com Paul Pastelok, expert long-range meteorologist and leader of the AccuWeather.com Long-Range Forecasting Team, wrote in a forecast back in late February.

Pastelok said that spring of 2012 would feature the most widespread warmth since 2004.